Sokka

Sokka
File:Sokka.jpg
Voiced by	Jack DeSena
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Position	Warrior
Nationality	Southern Water Tribe

Sokka is a fictional character voiced by Jack DeSena in the American animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The fifteen-year-old is a warrior of the South Pole's Southern Water Tribe who, along with his younger sister Katara, discovers Aang, the long-lost Avatar, and accompanies him on his quest to defeat the Fire Nation and bring peace to the war-torn nations.

History

File:Avatar - The Last Airbender 101-102 The Avatar Returns - Sokka Paint.jpg

Sokka in war-paint

Sokka grew up in his village as an aspiring warrior-in-training of the Southern Water Tribe. Forced to mature quickly when his mother was killed in a Fire Nation raid, he cultivated his warrior skills with a militant zeal, while his sister Katara did chores and practiced waterbending. When he was thirteen, his father and the other village men left to fight alongside the Earth Kingdom in the war against the Fire Nation, leaving him and his sister to look after their tribe with their grandmother, Gran-Gran. Apparently the oldest male left at the South Pole, by the time he was fifteen he seems to have developed a semi-leadership role (or at least assumed one for himself).

While on a spearfishing expedition, Katara and Sokka found Aang in suspended animation inside an iceberg. When Katara freed him, Sokka was initially suspicious that the Airbender might be a Fire Navy spy, and he grew xenophobic enough to banish him from the village. Upon discovering that Aang was the Avatar, destined to master all four elements and bring peace to the world, Sokka relented, realizing that they had a common enemy, the Fire Nation. He then set off with Katara and Aang on their journey to find a waterbending instructor at the North Pole, determined to hone his warrior's skills by way of fighting a few Firebenders.

Personality

File:Avatar - The Last Airbender 101-102 The Avatar Returns - Sokka charging.jpg

Sokka defends his village in "The Avatar Returns"

Skeptical, abrasive, and sharp-witted, Sokka is detached from Katara's and Aang's pursuit of the bending arts. Not gifted with bending abilities himself, Sokka instead prefers the ways of the warrior, and he takes his responsibility as protector very seriously. Patriotic and long to hold a grudge, he strongly wants to exact a little vengeance for the Fire Nation's decimation of the Water Tribe and the death of his mother. He holds little interest in the mysticism surrounding bending and prefers to solve problems using his strength and his wits. He tends to be rash, however, and his pride often leads to embarrassment.

A passionate carnivore, Sokka has demonstrated his love of meat on multiple occasions and is the main hunter in the group (Aang is a vegetarian). Sokka also has a habit of using sarcasm. In the episode "Bitter Work," Sokka shouts at karma in the heavens vowing to give up both meat and sarcasm for assistance, agreeing to consider himself no longer "Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy." By the end of the episode, however, he has not given up either meat or sarcasm. Though Sokka is dedicated to the defeat of the Fire Nation, he is not completely one-sided in the matter and does recognize the good in some firebenders, though still cautious.

Innovations

For an inhabitant of a mystical world, Sokka shows a remarkable proclivity towards science. He seems naturally adept at creating weapons out of practically anything at anytime. He learned how to construct amateur explosives from his father, which he once used to simulate firebending. In another instance, Sokka used trickery and optical illusions to help his sister Katara fake earthbending. He has even worked with fellow technologist, the Mechanist, to engineer a working hot air balloon and to develop a system that detects natural gas leaks. Sokka also has a variety of weapons, and he is proficient in all of them.

As the only non-bender in Aang's group, Sokka is often overshadowed by the bending skills of his friends. However, it is usually Sokka who comes up with a plan for victory. His skills as a fighter have also noticeably improved as the series progresses, though it is usually his persistence rather than skill that often allows him to get a shot in against opponents of superior skill, such as Zuko in "The Avatar Returns" and Ty Lee in "The Chase." Sokka employs the element of surprise in defeating larger enemies in "The Library" when he knocked out Wong Shi Tong by attacking him from above. In that particular encounter, Sokka's wit succeeded where Aang and Katara's bending failed.

More than a simple fighter, he can be seen as a promising engineer. Sokka effectively demonstrates his skills in the episode "The Chase" when he, Aang, Toph, and Katara are pursued by Princess Azula and her friends Mai, and Ty Lee, although he is quite easily disabled by Ty Lee.

Family

Mother

The death of Sokka's mother in a Fire Nation raid is the primary fuel for Sokka's deep grudge against the Fire Nation forces. Though his anger has faded somewhat, her loss remains a very sore point. Her name is yet to be given.

Hakoda

Sokka idolizes his father, Hakoda, hoping to become a great warrior and fight the Fire Nation just as valiantly. Deeply saddened by his father's departure, Sokka eagerly awaits the day he can meet him again. He once seriously considered leaving Aang behind in order to meet him at a military rendezvous point, briefly acting on this desire during an argument with him. Sokka's primary weapon (and most prized possession) is his metal boomerang, given to him by his father before going off to war.

Katara

Despite constant bickering in the course of their travels, the siblings love each other dearly. Sokka feels obligated to protect his younger sister, as urged by his father before his departure to fight the Fire Nation. Sokka takes this very seriously and, at times, can become outright overprotective.

Gran-Gran Kanna

Sokka's paternal grandmother, Kanna, is the oldest survivor of the Fire Nation raid on the Southern Water Tribe. Being such, she looks after the tribe. Like Sokka, she is cautious and wary of change and tends to be cynical. When she believes Aang's actions have endangered the village, she takes Sokka's side in the argument. However, she comes to see that it is her grandchildren's destiny to journey with the Avatar and sees them off, telling her grandson to take care of his sister and not to make fun of her.

Relationships

Aang

In regards to Aang, Sokka has yet to embrace the young Avatar as fully as his sister does. Always seemingly skeptical of Aang's powers and occasionally frustrated with Aang's cavalier attitude, Sokka keeps Aang somewhat at a distance. He has shown fierce anger when Aang's carelessness gets Katara hurt in "The Deserter" and when Aang purposely deceives them in "Bato of the Water Tribe," though he forgives him fully afterwards. Even though Sokka and Aang have their differences, they have since reached better terms with one another.

Suki

Sokka once nursed a sexist streak (the Water Tribes seem to be fairly traditional with gender roles), but his associations with two particular young women have drastically changed his views. His presumption that women were incompetent fighters was tested when he met Suki, a young female warrior on Kyoshi Island. Humbled by her skill, he turned to her for instruction. The two bonded over sparring matches, and, before parting, shared what was presumably Sokka's first kiss.

Some time later, he and his sister Katara go back to Kyoshi Island to help Aang out of a predicament. Sokka then asks where Suki is and discovers that she and the other female warriors of Kyoshi had gone off to fight in the war, inspired by their actions during their earlier visit to the village.

The two are reunited when Sokka and the others are on their way to Ba Sing Se in "The Serpent's Pass," where she and her warriors operate as sentries for the Ba Sing Se ferry. He was extremely overprotective of Suki during the beginning of the trip. During the night on the Serpent's Pass, Sokka and Suki talk and he explains to her how hard it is to lose someone you care for and that he doesn't want to lose anyone else, meanwhile the moon is behind them. She expresses how important Sokka is to her and the two almost kiss but Sokka draws back reluctantly. However, while she apologizes about the night before, he does kiss her several times before she finally leaves.

Princess Yue

Love found Sokka again when he became smitten with Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka's attempts to court Yue were first reciprocated; however, Yue eventually said she could not see him anymore, because she was already engaged to a young man named Hahn, though in reality it was a political union and she did not love him. She explained that she liked Sokka, but could not abandon her people and their customs. The relationship came to a tragic end when Yue sacrificed her mortal form to give the Waterbenders' patron Moon Spirit new life. Sokka's former love now exists as a reincarnation of Tui, the Moon Spirit.

While Yue promised to remain with him always in spirit and parted with one last kiss, her loss still deeply affects Sokka. In "The Swamp," he has a vision of her confronting him and asking why he was unable to protect her, something that her father Chief Arnook had asked him to do.

Toph

Because of Toph's young age and blindness, Sokka was skeptical of her earthbending prowess at first. Upon witnessing her skills, however, he is astonished to the point of fainting. Like Katara and Aang, Sokka gladly welcomes Toph when she joins their group. During "The Chase," when everyone was ready to fight the approaching tank, Toph discounted Sokka because he couldn't bend elements.

However, in "The Serpent's Pass," Toph saves Sokka's life and after he makes sure Suki is okay, Toph seems a little jealous. And later on the episode, while the "love theme" leitmotif plays in the background, Toph thanks Suki (thinking she was Sokka) because she saved her from drowning, then gives her a kiss on the cheek. Sokka was far away from hearing this, however.

Ty Lee

In "The Chase," at the end of battling, Ty Lee mentioned Sokka as "kinda cute." Later, in "The Drill", she mentioned the Avatar, and friends, meaning Katara and, mainly, Sokka, giving him a flirtatious look. Sokka blushed and said "Hey" to her flirtatiously before Katara pulled him away.